The main tournaments before the last Grand Slam of the season, the US Open in New York, did not end well for the Russian players. First of all, we are talking about our old leaders in men’s tennis, Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev. Daria Kasatkina did not show the best results, and Veronika Kudermetova generally managed to lose to 43-year-old Venus Williams. Only Lyudmila Samsonova was happy, she reached the final in Montreal, but due to rains and match postponements, she spent so much energy there that she lost the decider by one wicket and did not have time to recover in Cincinnati.
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We also note that our young star Mirra Andreeva, who missed out on the Montreal and Cincinnati main draws by qualifying, will play in the small WTA-250 tournament in Cleveland next week, and has apparently decided not to play qualifying; Furthermore, due to her age, Mirra has a limited number of senior tournaments that she can play in a season. However, we will leave the 16-year-old Russian woman out of the picture for now and talk about those who have been on tour for many years and have achieved serious results in major competitions.
How Medvedev used to act before the US Open and in New York
Let’s start, of course, with the leader of Russian tennis in recent years – Daniil Medvedev. By the results, he had the worst performance in American Series tournaments in any year since Daniil broke into the top 10. In 2019, he racked up two finals and one title before the US Open, and then reached the match for title in New York. 2020 is difficult to assess due to the pandemic that began that year, which severely affected the entire world of sport, even significantly cutting the tennis calendar. After a hiatus that lasted about six months, Medvedev played the Cincinnati Masters, which was actually held on the US Open courts for more convenient logistics, considering the whole situation, and appeared at the major itself. . In the next three years, the preparation was already in full swing, and the most successful turned out to be in 2021 (a title in Toronto and a semifinal in Cincinnati), after which Daniil won his first and so far only Grand Slam Tournament, having confidently dealt with Novak Djokovic in the final. You can evaluate all the results of a Russian in the summer in America in our table.
Medvedev’s performance in the hard summer series, table:
Washington/Los CabosCanada Masters (Montreal/Toronto)CincinnatiUS Open2019Final B, lost to KiryosFinal, lost to NadalTitle, defeated GoffinFinal, lost to Nadal2020–Quarterfinals, lost to Bautista-AgutSemifinal, lost to Thiem2021-Title, defeated OpelkaSemi -final, lost to RublevTitul, defeated Djokovic 2022L-C title, defeated Norrie 1/16 final, lost to Kiryos Semifinals, lost to Tsitsipas 1/8 final, lost to Kyrgios 2023-1/4 final, lost to 1/8 minor final, lost to Zverev?
“If Daniil keeps playing like this, he won’t go far at the US Open”
Daniel’s performances in Toronto and Cincinnati this summer were certainly disappointing. The famous Soviet and Russian tennis player Andrey Chesnokov, for example, was very upset with Medvedev’s game in Canada with Alex de Minor. “Daniel played terribly. When he served on the opponent’s match point, he was sure that he would make a double mistake. It seems to me that he did not have patience, from Minor he scored a lot of balls. He didn’t expect to lose this match, especially since he had a good lead in the first set. If Medvedev continues to play in the same way, then he will not go very far at the US Open,” Chesnokov was quoted as saying by TASS.
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Daniil himself, after the defeat in Toronto, complained about the conditions of the venue and, first of all, about the balls. In Cincinnati, the balls suited him a little more. “In my opinion, the court is different. Maybe the balls too. But it is difficult to talk about balls, because they strongly react to the surface. You can build another court right there and the balls will react differently. Hard to say. But the court is different, the ball flies. In every game I watched on TV, after a bad shot, it got out of control. And it is not easy, because we are not perfect. But in such conditions, you have to try to be closer to the ideal than to the opponent,” Medvedev said on court after defeating Lorenzo Musetti. However, it was still not possible to cope with Zverev in the third round, although the match was stubborn. It should be noted that Alexander admitted after the match that he had consulted on game tactics with Carlos Alcaras, who had already beaten Daniil twice this season.
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Now it is more likely that Medvedev will have a temporary recession…
Medvedev’s previous two finals in New York were preceded by excellent results in the tournaments leading up to the US Open. Daniil, in general, often shows his best tennis in series, playing and dealing with opponents in one tournament after another. Last year, unsuccessful performances in Canada and Cincinnati were followed by failure at the US Open. True, the Russian was partly unlucky to hit Kiryos early twice, but his overall tennis wasn’t impressive at the time. However, after losing the Australian Open final at the start of that season, Daniil was generally without the remainder of the schedule, even in the context of surgery and other issues. The American summer series then became only part of the general trend. This year, Medvedev played much better, including in the United States, where he performed well for the first time at the spring Masters, becoming a finalist in Indian Wells and a champion in Miami. Previously, he had never gone beyond the 1/8 final and quarterfinal there, respectively.
Now, after all, there is a feeling that Daniel has a temporary recession, and not serious difficulties. He’s already peaked this season, first in late winter and spring, and a few months ago he reached the semifinals at Wimbledon, also for the first time in his career. By the way, in the spring Medvedev also won his first title on clay, and immediately at the Masters, in Rome. At the same time, before Rome there were early defeats in Monte Carlo and Madrid, and immediately after – a failure at Roland Garros in the form of a first-round defeat (and the Russian had a frankly weak grass tournament before Wimbledon). In a word, this season Daniil has already had excellent results in individual tournaments, and surely he should reach a new peak just in time for the US Open, especially if the grid of the first rounds allows him to play calmly. And in any case, thanks to the high number of seeds with the new “Big-2” – Djokovic and Alcaraz – Medvedev will not meet before the semifinals.
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… but Rublev’s form worries more
Andrei Rublev’s form is much more worrying. This year marked the first Masters singles title of his career, winning Monte Carlo (and then, incidentally, in doubles with Karen Khachanov in Madrid), plus adding two more byes to his collection of “Helmets” quarterfinals up to this scenario. At the same time, immediately after the Wimbledon 1/4 final, the restless Rublev left for European soil. This brought him the title in Bostad, but in terms of preparation afterward, he interfered quite a bit. Now Andrey has already lost three matches in a row, including in the opening rounds for him in Toronto and Cincinnati. At the same time, Rublev in recent games seemed quite nervous and scared a lot. Perhaps the Russian is distracted by something off the court, or perhaps he is just angry with himself for such a level of tennis. In any case, the Russian had a real chance of breaking into the top 4 and not facing Djokovic, Alcaraz or Medvedev until the US Open semifinals. And now Andrei is eighth in the ATP ranking list, and a match with someone from this trio in the 1/4 finals is very likely.
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Nothing can be said about Khachanov now, in principle, because Karen, who barely made it back to the top 10 at the end of Roland Garros, dropped out due to a stress fracture and has not yet returned to tour. True, he had planned to play in Cincinnati and every last one was announced for the first round match with Andy Murray, but in the end the British player appeared first, and then the Russian tennis player. Therefore, if Karen will perform at the US Open, he will be completely out of playing practice.
When will Kasatkina return to the top?
Another question is when Daria Kasatkina will return to her level. The Russian had the best season of hers last year, qualifying for the WTA Finals for the first time in her career, largely thanks to fairly consistent results overall, as well as semifinals at Roland Garros and Rome. However, this year Daria performs much weaker, but at least the difference is not as big as between the 2018 season, in which she finished as the 10th racket in the world, and 2019, after which the Russian woman collapsed. on line 69 of the classification. . In addition, in the winter, in February, Kasatkina changed her coach, broke up with Carlos Martinez and began working with the former Italian tennis player Flavio Cipolla; she too must adapt to such changes. At the moment, Kasatkina has reached a certain plateau in the results of the 1/8 to 1/4 finals, but she has not yet been able to break through to the major tournaments. There are no victories over the tops either; however, in Montreal she was very close to success in the match with Elena Rybakina, but still lost.
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The rest of the Russians as a whole are not stable. Kudermetova obviously lost after the semifinals in Madrid and Rome, losing in the first round at Roland Garros and in the second round at Wimbledon (in London, however, she had no luck with the draw: she fell in love with the future champion, Marketa Vondrousova ). After that, she Veronica took a break in Cincinnati, where she managed not to take a set from Venus Williams, although she led 4: 1 in the first game and 5: 1 in the second. Before the US Open, Kudermetova, like Mirra Andreeva, Anna Blinkova and Ekaterina Alexandrova, will play in Cleveland, but overall her recent performances have been disappointing. Lyudmila Samsonova, of course, had a more than objective reason for her failure in Cincinnati after the Toronto final, but before that she relied heavily on peak form and could lose to anyone due to her own mistakes in a bad way. day. The same applies to Alexandrova, only her overall level of play is slightly lower.
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Daniil remains Russia’s main hope
In a word, whatever one may say, Daniil Medvedev remains the main Russian hope in both categories in the “Helmet”. It can be assumed that Kasatkina will also show some result, but it is definitely very difficult to expect a title or a final from her, while Medvedev, in principle, has a game that allows him to count on that, and he could well enter. shape. There is much less faith in Rublev now, as well as in Khachanov, if Karen plays in New York at all. She first needs to return to her condition after the injury, and only then again strive for high results.
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Mirra Andreeva can pleasantly surprise the girls again, but for a 16-year-old tennis player to reach the third or fourth round of the Slam is already a great achievement, and she will probably fight for more serious prizes a little later, when she gets stronger and gain experience. However, tennis is good because the one who is close to her can also “shoot”, but they ignore him. We only expect pleasant surprises from the Russians.
